SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Everyone knows that America's big cities and especially San Francisco live in their own financial bubbles.
Average rent in the City by the Bay is nearly four times greater than the US average, coming in at $3,750 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. The cost of living is 80 per cent higher than the rest of America. A typical cup of coffee costs a demented $6 – and some will charge a mind-boggling $20. The internet surge of the past few years has only deepened the problem: tech bros earning six-figure salaries have edged out working families, and homelessness, despite a slight retreat recently, remains high.
But among all the issues that have been rudely visited upon San Francisco, the one that has rich people most riled up is also the most human: shit. As in other people's shit. Dog shit, too, but mostly human shit.
Thanks to the impossible cost of living in the city and a repeated refusal by residents to cough up enough money to deal with the jump in homeless folk, more people that[sic] ever before are living on the streets with no where to go at night and – thanks to no one wanting to dirty up wonderfully clean and luxurious shopping centers and office buildings – no where to go (as in go) during the day. The result: shit. Tons of it.
"I will say there is more feces on the sidewalks than I've ever seen growing up here," said the city's new mayor London Breed recently. "That is a huge problem and we are not just talking about from dogs – we’re talking about from humans."
And so San Francisco has decided to deal with it in the only way it knows how: pay others to erase the problem from its sight. But before you wonder who on earth would accept a job cleaning up other people's excrement in one of the most expensive cities in the world, consider this: it pays well. Really well.
[...] All of which means that if you are lucky enough to grab a coveted spot on the Poop Patrol – it's a ten-person crew with its own minivan – you will earn a base salary of $71,760 a year. Add in benefits including health insurance, pension and so on and it brings the package to a rather enticing $184,678 a year.
Source: www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/25/san_francisco_clean_up/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:02PM (40 children)
Buy many of those outdoor self cleaning public restrooms like Atlanta has (ATL should buy more though)
Or
Make some large bathrooms and station 3 officers at each one overnight
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:09PM (38 children)
Call them "prisons".
Trespassing (and therefore homelessness) is a crime.
Pooping in public is a crime.
Shooting up heroine in public is a crime; hell, public intoxication is a crime.
Enforce the fucking law. Statists rant and rave about the necessity of governing, by they never do it. They NEVER govern.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snow on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:28PM (21 children)
It costs about 33k to house a prisoner.
It would be a lot cheaper to give each an apartment.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:36PM (10 children)
These people are not just "you on hard times".
This is a serious problem that requires serious measures.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:09PM (3 children)
you are a non-functioning person you just don't have a clue about it
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:25PM (1 child)
The U.S. public is getting tired of all the half measures and pussyfooting.
Either take command of the situation now, or me and my ilk will do it for you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @12:19PM
Your ilk? These days people make fun of you and your pointy white things that you can't see out of sometimes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @09:41PM
That this comment was modded to +5 indicates a serious infestation on this site.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by acid andy on Sunday August 26 2018, @10:34PM (5 children)
In what way? Are you seriously trying to tell us that these are the wrong kind of homeless people, that there's a right kind and a wrong kind? WTF?
Soylent's sinking to a new low with the comments on this thread!
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @11:03PM
Don't blame non-US soylenters for the crap in US, we are soylenting at home thank you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @03:53AM
Well, you won't be homeless for that long. You're a functioning person who just happened to have a bad turn of luck in terms of, say, cash flow; if someone gave you an apartment for free, you'd be back on your own feet pretty damn quick.
Chronically homeless people are not like that. They are broken people. You can't just give them a free apartment and think you've done something useful.
Get it yet, idiot?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @10:40AM (2 children)
I think he's still under the impression that most homeless people are either alchoholics or drug-addicts
If that's the case you can't help them get back on their own feet economically without fixing the addiction first
Of course "most homeless are addicts" hasn't been true for a at least a decade now... Things change
(Score: 4, Insightful) by acid andy on Monday August 27 2018, @11:31AM (1 child)
Addiction doesn't mean they shouldn't have a roof over their head. If having enough roofs to do that screws up the environment then that means there are too many people on the planet chasing too little land. The only ethical way to handle that is to gently incentivize lower birth rates. Contraception can help.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday August 27 2018, @01:30PM
I forgot to mention it also needs a new kind of economy based on businesses sustaining a certain size rather than on infinite growth. Infinite growth requires eternal population growth. I suppose you could punish a business for expanding beyond a certain size through taxation but you'd also need to reward sustainability so there's carrot as well as stick. If you reward a business financially for maintaining a constant size and profitability, that would mean they would have extra capital on top of their profits which they wouldn't be able to reinvest into the business without paying it out as taxes. I guess they'd have to pay it out as increased dividends or raise wages. I'm not sure whether that would cause inflation.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:37PM (3 children)
$45K/yr for a one bedroom apartment in SF by TFA's numbers. That's less than $33K/yr.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:01PM
Buzzy's back and making less sense than ever!
https://www.basic-math-explained.com/basic-math-skills.html [basic-math-explained.com]
Maybe we can start with a number line.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by AndyTheAbsurd on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:24PM (1 child)
Who said we were going to house them in San Francisco for that amount? Ship 'em up to Sacramento, make sure that the state legislature sees them.
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday August 27 2018, @03:48PM
You could just replace the state legislature with them. Might not do a worse job.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:19PM
These people are not just "you on hard times".
This is a serious problem that requires serious measures.
(Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Sunday August 26 2018, @10:18PM (3 children)
If we going for savings, bullet costs under a buck. That's probably the extent of money I'm willing to spend on a moocher.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Sunday August 26 2018, @10:32PM (2 children)
Yes, having the government execute citizens with no due process is a fantastic idea.
(Score: 1, Troll) by SanityCheck on Monday August 27 2018, @12:12AM (1 child)
Giving free shit to everyone is also a fantastic idea*
*see Venezuela
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @09:43PM
While your point is stupid I will 100% prefer handouts to government sanctioned "murder for being poor".
Get a clue you psycho!
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @02:07AM
Most homeless people suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome.
Fetal alcohol syndrome is incurable. I know one person with it (currently homeless). Drug addict, graduate of numerous government 'programs'. They've utterly destroyed every place they've ever lived, despite having been given a free nice house in nice area, all expenses paid. It is literally impossible for them to hold a job. Someone with FAS costs society approximately $2 million in his or her lifetime.
https://www.fasworld.com/fasd-facts/ [fasworld.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:40PM (4 children)
when a person is homeless, there is no other option except doing things 'in public'
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:45PM (2 children)
If you can't pay for your own place on your own terms, then you need to submit to the taxpayers' place on the taxpayers' terms; if you're found sleeping on the streets, then you need to be persuaded (forcibly if necessary) to go to a community for homeless people where you can be either treated for your mental troubles or hand-held until you're clean and skilled enough to re-integrate.
Call these places "re-education" camps if you like. Stay there forever if you need to, but you'll have to live according to the taxpayers' rules—curfews, control over "lights out", sleep times, wake times, meal times, bathing times, etc.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:54PM (1 child)
and if there's no space at a homeless shelter, where do you go? (always no space at the few places that try to help)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:01PM
The government needs to enforce property rights, and if that means spending gobs of resources to build massive complexes to handle these people, then so be it—this would be one of the few actually reasonable purposes of a government.
Help those who will help themselves, but primarily just move non-functioning people out of the way of the rest of society.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:53PM
San Francisco should put up a commieblock or allocate an existing building to house the homeless for free. If, however, those homeless fail one of their random drug-tests (Marihuana excluded) or breathalyzer tests, then they will be executed as burdens upon society.
But worse than the homeless are all the totally righteous liberals who live there. Silicon Valley should collectively be forced to register as political agents and taxed up the ass until they shut their fat fucking elitest mouths about what everybody else should believe. And we need to levy huge property taxes on urban elites, the taxes of which will depend on the homeless headcount of the vicinity.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:49PM (7 children)
There's also laws requiring authorities to provide minimal services like public rest rooms, homeless shelters and rehab centers for addicts. i.e. The laws forbidding public urination (and deification I guess) were successfully challenged dozens of times during the 80s and 90s when police officers were staking out (gay) pubs and arresting men taking a leak at the walls facing the pubs since there were long lines at the pub and no public facilities around.
San Francisco is simply paying the price for decades of neocon homophobia, corruption and neglect. The American people want a class system like India. So now they get to live in India-like cities. Seems reasonable to me.
(Score: 0, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:56PM
Speaking of India, one peculiar question is raised: Why are all the poop patrol folks White? Could one not hire H1-B people from India, who are no strangers to poo, and hire more of them and at a fraction of the cost?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:26PM (1 child)
Public deification? I do not think that word means what you think it means! Holy auto-correct, Batman!
"I am a God! You are like the buzzing of flies to me!"
(Score: 3, Touché) by FatPhil on Monday August 27 2018, @02:55PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Interesting) by schad on Monday August 27 2018, @12:50AM (1 child)
I feel like you haven't really thought this part of your argument through.
California is renowned through the US for its leftist politics.
And San Francisco, specifically, is about as far left of California as California is of, say, Texas. It also has long had a reputation for being not merely accepting, but welcoming to homosexuals.
You've picked quite possibly the only place in the country where this argument is patently absurd.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @03:08PM
Never lived there, have you. And that wasn't a question. Those of us who have know different.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @10:47AM (1 child)
SF is a bastion of neocon homophobia? really?
I'd always had the impression that SF was the core of the hippie movement and has been a haven for gay people and all varieties of sexual kink ever since the 70's
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @09:50PM
Not the politicians and "elites".
(Score: 5, Interesting) by shortscreen on Sunday August 26 2018, @11:36PM (2 children)
Does that make foreclosure aiding and abetting a crime?
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday August 27 2018, @01:56AM
If I decide to move into your house w/o your permission and you try to have me removed, does that make you aiding and abetting a crime?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday August 27 2018, @02:59PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday August 27 2018, @02:38AM
Why even do that? *Pay* people a small amount of money to poop in designated toilets, flush, and leave the bathroom clean. You could have the city cleaned up overnight.